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David’s Sin of Adultery and His Repentance
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of self. Knowing that their strength and safety was in God alone,
they have been afraid to take the first step onto Satan’s ground.
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Even before the divine sentence was pronounced against David,
he had begun to reap the fruit of transgression. The agony of spirit
he endured then is brought to view in the thirty-second psalm:
When I kept silent, my bones grew old
Through my groaning all the day long.
For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me;
My vitality was turned into the drought of summer.
Psalm 32:3, 4
And the fifty-first psalm is an expression of David’s repentance,
when the message of reproof came to him from God:
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from Your presence,
And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. ...
Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,
The God of my salvation,
And my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness.
Psalm 51:10, 11, 14
So in this sacred song that was to be sung in the public assemblies
of his people, the king of Israel told of his sin, his repentance, and
his hope of pardon through the mercy of God. Instead of trying
to hide his guilt, David wanted others to be instructed by the sad
history of his fall.
More Than Pardon
David’s repentance was sincere and deep. He did not try to make
his crime look less serious, nor did he desire to escape the threatened
judgments. He saw the defilement of his heart, and he hated his
sin. He did not only pray for pardon, but for purity of heart. He
saw the evidence of his pardon and acceptance in God’s promises